Batman: Arkham Knight is Coming This Year from Rocksteady

Warner Bros. Interactive has made an official announcement today on the next game in the Batman Arkham franchise, just minutes after a retail leak from GAME UK spoiled the surprise and revealed Batman: Arkham Knight for the next-gen consoles coming this year. And yes, it's from Rocksteady. Come inside for the announcement and trailer!

Fans are getting what they want, in a brand new Batman game from the studio who's made arguably the best comic book video game adaptations ever; Rocksteady. While WB Montreal took over duties on Arkham Origins, apparently it's because Rocksteady has been hard at work for the last couple of years on the franchise's first outing on the next generation consoles (or current gen I suppose...). Last week a leak showed us the upcoming logo for the new game, but today comes the official announcement (though it was leaked just a little before).

As has been the norm in the past, the official reveal comes via GameInformer's cover for their upcoming issue of the magazine in which they'll have the first details of the game. What we know now, however, is that the game is coming from Rocksteady with Scarecrow being one of the primary villains (among others) and that it will once again feature an open world Gotham City in a time set after the events of Arkham City.

This time around you'll be able to actually drive the batmobile around Gotham, which will be far larger even than it was in Arkham City. More importantly the game will be released later this year for the PS4, Xbox One and PC...Yep, there's no mention at all of the previous generation consoles, meaning it's among the first AAA games we've seen that's exclusive to the new-gen consoles. While some fans might be disappointed in this, it's an inevitable reality of the games industry.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment today announced Batman™: Arkham Knight, Rocksteady Studios’ conclusion to the series of award-winning, best-selling titles Batman™: Arkham Asylum and Batman™: Arkham City. Batman: Arkham Knight is based on DC Comics’ core Batman license and will be available exclusively for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft, and Windows PC. The game is scheduled for release worldwide in 2014.

In the explosive finale to the Arkham series, Batman faces the ultimate threat against the city he is sworn to protect. The Scarecrow returns to unite an impressive roster of super villains, including Penguin, Two-Face and Harley Quinn, to destroy The Dark Knight forever. Batman: Arkham Knight introduces Rocksteady's uniquely designed version of the Batmobile, which is drivable for the first time in the franchise. The addition of this legendary vehicle, combined with the acclaimed gameplay of the Batman Arkham series, offers gamers the ultimate and complete Batman experience as they tear through the streets and soar across the skyline of the entirety of Gotham City.

“Batman: Arkham Knight is the pinnacle game of our hugely successful franchise, and we are giving players the most expansive, impressive title in the series,” said Martin Tremblay, President, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “The Rocksteady Studios team is continuing to focus on the excellent gameplay for which they are known while delivering a thrilling new experience for gamers and Batman fans.”

“The team at Rocksteady Studios is putting a tremendous amount of work into delivering the final chapter of our Batman: Arkham trilogy so that fans can feel what it’s like to be the Batman,” said Sefton Hill, Game Director at Rocksteady Studios. “We’re excited to be developing the game for next-gen platforms, which has allowed us to bring to life the design elements that we envisioned from the beginning such as the Batmobile and how it augments Batman’s abilities, to the fully detailed and realized Gotham City.”

We'll be sure to post all upcoming news on the newly announced title, but in the meantime what do you guys think about Batman: Arkham Knight? Are you excited?